Drafting arrangement for textile fibres



July 21, 1959 J. M. J. SAUVAGE D RAFTING ARRANGEMENT FOR'TEXTILE FIBRES United States Patent DRAFTING ARRANGEMENT FoR TEXTILE FIBRES Joseph Marie Julien Sauvage, Herstal, Belgium Application November 15, 1954, Serial No. 468,926 Claims priority, application Belgium November 21, 1953 1 Claim. c1. 19-134 Combing and spinningarrangements include drafting machines which have for their object the defelting, mixing, regularising and making parallel of the fibres. With this object the material is drawn across a field of moving pins and on leaving is gripped by rollers; these rollers are given a rotary movement more rapid than the displacement of the combs carrying the pins and forming the field, whereby the material is drawn across the said field of pins.

Up to the present, the lower roller has always been that which is driven and the upper roller has only been driven by contact as a nesult of strong pressure imposed upon it, moreover the support for the rollers must be able to approach or move away from the combs according to whether the material treated comprises long or short fibres. In this arrangement the ends of the worms controlling the advancement of the combs turn in housings provided on the frame of the machine; when short fibres have been treated, the support for the rollers has been too near to the combs and has thereby prevented the ends of the worms from being provided with ball bearings, owing to lack of space.

In the present invention, only the upper roller is controlled by the motor, the desired pressure on this roller being obtained either by hydraulic or pneumatic arrangements or by means generally employed; the drive of the upper roller is eifected by chains, belts, pinions, or other known means.

The secondary roller or rollers are adjustable in position in order to be displaceable along a line parallel to the rectilinear advancement of the combs forming the field of pins. These displacements are effected by means of metal supports provided with ball bearings in which are mounted the shafts of the secondary roller or rollers; these supports slide in grooves provided on the frame of the machine. The rectilinear displacements of the secondary rollers, which are necessary to maintain the axes of these rollers perfectly parallel to the axis of the directly-controlled roller (in order to avoid the ribbons of treated material not being of the same thickness over the whole or their width), are controlled by index means situated on the metal supports, this index means being adapted to register with a fixed mark or scale provided, on the frame, at each side of the machine. The desired clamping in position of the metal supports is effected on each side of the machine by known screw means, for example by a screw with a handle or other appropriate means.

The said clamping means can also be arranged to act on one side only of the machine and can be very well combined with the means for displacing the metal supports.

According to the invention, the lower roller is provided with corrugations, which can be of two different types, that is to say, the central part of the roller can be provided with corrugations which have the function of not permitting the least slipping of the treated material, and the two extremities of the roller can be provided with ice corrugations having more or less pointed apices which penetrate without damage the resilient cover of the pressure roller, permitting the obtaining of the rotary drive by, so to speak, a toothed-gear action. When two-table rollers are in questoin, only the middle parts of the said rollers are provided with corrugations having more or less pointed apices.

According to the nature and quality of the fibres of the material treated, an arrangement, for driving the upper roller, which comprises a sprocket keyed to the axis of the said roller and rotatably driven by, for example, a chain, can be substituted by an arrangement in which the upper roller is driven by a ratchet-wheel keyed or fixed to the axis of the said roller, this ratchet-wheel being driven by a pawl carried by a toothed wheel which can turn freely on the axis of the upper roller, this toothed wheel being engaged on the one hand by a driving pinion on a motor, and on the other hand by a driving pinion keyed or fixed to the shaft of the lower or secondary roller, in such a manner as to compensate automatically the relative difference in speed of rotation between the upper and lower rollers which occurs when the pressure is increased on one or the other drafting roller.

The invention covers not only the arrangements and mechanical embodiments described in the following description, but covers also all arrangements which come within the spirit of the object of the invention.

In order better to emphasize the above explanation, the accompanying drawings represent, by way of example, and not of limitation, embodiments of the invention.

To this effect, Figure 1 represents a section, on the line II, Figure 2, through a drafting arrangement, for textile fibres, which is in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the drafting arrangement.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of part of a lower or secondary roller showing the different forms of corrugations at the centre and at one of the ends of the roller.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing diagrammatically an arrangement for rotatably driving the upper roller and lower roller in a modified embodiment.

An arrangement in accordance with the invention, see Figures 1 and 2, is applied to a frame 2 of drafting mechanism, this frame 2 serving to guide the upper roller 3, "which can be put under pressure. In the example the said roller receives its rotary movement from a motor by means of a sprocket 3 connected to the motor by a chain 3' of articulated links.

The corrugated secondary roller or rollers 4 are furnished with ball bearings 4 provided in metal straps or supports 5 disposed in and guided by grooves 2 in the machine frame 2. These metal supports '5 are adapted to be displaced in the grooves 2 in such a way as to permit the secondary roller or rollers 4 approaching the field of pins 6 when the latter are treating material composed of short fibres. When the position of the roller or rollers 4 is obtained by displacing the metal supports 5, the latter are each retained in place by a clamping member 7 which consists of a handle provided with a screwed shank passing through a slot 7 in a side of the frame 2 and engaged in the respective metal support 5, and which is adapted to exert strong pressure upon a metal washer 7 in order to make the said metal support 5 rigid with the frame 2.

With the object of keeping the axis of the secondary roller or rollers 4 always perfectly parallel to the axis of the driving roller 3, the metal supports 5 are each furnished with an index 5 which is adapted to register with a fixed scale 2 provided on the exterior face of the respective side of the frame 2.

The fact that the frame of the machine is fixed, whereas in the machines existing up to the present time the,

said frame had to be displaceable in order that fibres of different lengths could be worked, permits of providing the ends of the worms 8 and 9, which cause the displacement of the combs of pins 6, with ball bearings 8 and 9 which has the result of enabling the speed of the machine to be increased and of considerably diminishing noise.

In carrying out the invention, it is also anticipated to arrange the metal supports, which are at each side of the frame, in such a way that they are rigid with each other in order to ensure the same displacements.

When connection by means of toothed wheels or pinions is not indispensable between the shaft 3 of the pressure roller 3 and the shaft 4 of the lower roller 4 as in the case of Figures 1 and 2, and with the object of ensuring as much as possible rotation without slip between the roller 3 and the secondary roller or rollers such as 4, it is anticipated to provide the secondary rollers 4 with corrugations for rotary drive having more or less pointed apices 4 at the two extremities of the roller 4, or each roller 4, see Figure 3. These corrugations 4 in penetrating the more or less resilient cover of the upper roller 3, act as teeth and replace the toothed wheels in question.

The apices of the corrugations 4 are flattened or blunted as at 4 at the central part of the secondary roller or rollers 4, and serve to draft the treated material.

In practice, and when the pressure is very strong on the upper roller 3, the corrugations 4 penetrate more deeply into the resilient cover of the roller 3 and accordingly diminish the distance between the toothed pinions 3 and 4*; there thus results, at these places, a heating and a risk of damage to the said cover.

With the object of preventing this inconvenience, it is anticipated (see Figure 4) to key or fix to the shaft 3 of the upper roller 3, a ratchet wheel 3, the pawl 3 for which is carried by a toothed wheel 3 freely mounted on the shaft 3, and engages the teeth of the ratchet wheel 3 and drives the upper roller 3. The toothed wheel 3" is engaged on the one hand with the driving pinion 3 of the motor and on the other hand with the toothed wheel 4 keyed or fixed to the shaft 4 of the secondary roller or rollers 4.

When the distance between the two pinions 3 and 4*, following an increase of pressure, undergoes a change, the pawl 3 acts by friction on wheel 3 and retards the roller 3 to compensate for this change. Therefore, the pinion 3 continues to drive the pinion 4 without causing damage to the teeth of the latter and ensuring the maintainance in good condition of the resilient cover of the periphery of the roller 3.

I claim:

Apparatus for the treatment of textile fibres comprising a first roller including a. resilient peripheral portion, a second roller of lesser diameter than the first roller and including a corrugated peripheral portion, a frame having first and second perpendicular slots, the first slot displaceably accommodating the first roller for supporting the latter, a support member displaceably accommodated in the second slot and supporting the second roller in adjustable operative association with the first roller, the second roller being supported for free wheeling operation, means coupled to the first roller for driving the same, means coupled to the first roller for urging the same generally in the direction of the second roller, and locking means coupled to the support member for fixing the same in position on the frame whereby to adjust the engagement of the fibres between the rollers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,681,768 G'minder Aug. 21, 1928 1,709,489 Rick et al Apr. 16, 1929 2,219,666 Solanas Oct. 29, 1940 2,260,130 Armstrong et al Oct. 21, 1941 2,361,217 Lewis Oct. 24, 1944 2,387,937 Noguera Oct. 30, 1945 2,412,357 Robinson Dec. 10, 1946 2,621,372 Wilkie Dec. 16, 1952 2,629,137 Berker Feb. 24, 1953 

